The Garden Club of Aiken and the Garden Club of South Carolina commemorated milestones together during a tea Thursday afternoon at Rose Hill Estate on Greenville Street.
The event recognized the Aiken club's 90th anniversary and the South Carolina club's 85th anniversary.
Claudia Wright Lea Phelps, who died in 1955, founded both clubs, Rose Hill used to be her home.
"It's been a wonderful celebration," said Deedee Vaughters, the president of the Aiken club. "We introduced 150 women from across the state of South Carolina to our lovely Aiken."
Earlier in the day, there was a luncheon at the Green Boundary Club. Then there was a program at the Aiken County Historical Museum that included the dedication of a garden and a talk by the museum's director, Brenda Baratto, about the clubs' founder and her daughter, Claudia Lea Phelps.
Vaughters gave a short speech during the tea.
"We are blessed in this club to get to call Aiken home," she said. "It is a fabulous place to live, and we are proud of our heritage and history. We're thrilled to share with you a little piece of your history today in this lovely home (at Rose Hill). I hope you will take a chance to get out and tour the gardens, as well. It (Rose Hill) is truly fabulous, and sometimes, living here, we kind of take it for granted. Shame on us because it is an amazing treasure."
Vaughters also praised Margaret Shealy, a former president of the Aiken Club, for organizing the joint celebration.
"She put this whole event together, and she has done an outstanding job," Vaughters said.
The Aiken club's president then told everybody they had been invited to Cold Creek Nurseries to enjoy strawberries and champagne.
"It's been a full day," Vaughters said.
Charlotte Wiedenman, the Aiken club's newly-installed historian, was in charge of a table at the tea that had a display about the history of the Aiken club on it.
After the club was formed, Wiedenman said, its members decided to focus on the cultivation of chrysanthemums. They also decided to hold a rose show.
Over the years, the Aiken club has encouraged the planting of live oaks, discouraged the decking of halls with boughs of holly at Christmas to prevent trees from being butchered, and beautified Aiken's parks and parkways.
Today, the club maintains gardens at the Aiken County Public Library.
Dede Biles is a general assignment reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the newspaper since January 2013. A native of Concord, N.C., she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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